Memorial Day Weekend

Always welcome a 3 day weekend!  This holiday marks the beginning of the summer season which reminds me of swimming outside, bbq, street festivals, baseball games, picnics, going to the beach, eating lots of ice cream, air conditioning at the movies, sweat in places you don't want to talk about, fireworks, fresh fruits and veggies, weekend get away, and spending time with friends and family.  But its also a weekend to remember.  I never really knew the history of the day and decided to read about it.  I remember all those who have come into my life and are no longer with me. Their spirit is always with me and gives me peace so I appreciate all I have and just enjoy it.

Bike Rides

I love my bike rides. I ride as much as possible in the summer and love the smells. In the morning its coffee and donuts and other parts of the day its spices, bbq, hot dogs, flowers, fresh cut grass and some not so great smells which I will not bring up.  Sunrise rides are really cool. Nothing better than seeing a sunrise along the lake.  Yes I know 5:00 am is pretty early but you get to see the most interesting people and things.  I saw a guy running without shoes, a few walk of shames, and a few who were looking for some paid action, street people looking for food and sleeping where they can. 

Love seeing the sailboats, the birds, the shirtless men running doesn't hurt either, the views are spectacular, the golf course along the lake I'm always afraid of a stray ball hitting me some day, a stop at the dog beach is always fun.  Watching the dogs play and run around. I've chased a thief on my bike who I watched steal someones bike who was laying down resting and wasn't paying attention.  I didn't catch him but I'm sure I scared him some! Also had to give a cyclist CPR who went down right in front of me. That was really scary. I'm glad I knew how. Saw a guy taking a nap in a grocery cart and a man riding his bike with a giant inner tube around his waist.  I don't know how he did it without falling off!

I try and commute to work most of the summer so give my car a rest and be outside as much as possible gets me through the day.  I have been hit a few times in the past but never had any serious injuries thank goodness.  I did think about changing my profession to stunt woman once.  Have to be really careful in the city.  When I ride out in the country so much easier and free and really more relaxing.  I have an old Schwinn I ride for fun rides and its like being a kid again. Love the freedom it gives me and never have to worry about parking!!

Go Team!

Sometimes I feel like my life is like a sporting event. Sometimes I play amazing and everything falls into place. Nothing or no one can stop me.  Other times I can't seem to get past the lineman and fall flat on m face.  I just hope if I'm injured I will heal fast and get back in the game. And if I have a bad day or miss that pass my team won't be mad at me.  But when I score that winning goal with just seconds to go my team will high five me and its the best feeling in the world.  Fight to the end.

Summer List

Things I want/will do this summer:

1. Play Putt Putt Golf.
2. Surf lake Michigan.
3. Skip work go to a Cubs game-I'm a Cardinal and Reds fan so would be nice if it was one of those teams they play.  Sorry Cubs fans!
4. Long bike ride in Michigan and Wisconsin.
5. Go to Pitchfork music fest.
6. Visit my family (Austin, St. Louis & Algonquin)
7. Volunteer
8. Give 50 hugs in one day.
9. Kayak along the lake front.
10. Canoe Chicago River.
11. Tour Half ACRE,  3Floyds and Two Brothers. Learn more about beer.
12. Hit the farmers markets as much as possible.
13. Cook a meal for my friends
14. Go to street/music festivals
15. join a team or goup
16. work on my novel
17. get a new job or 2nd job
18. go to a drive in movie
19. Take more photos
20. help a friend in need
21. take a class on blogs
22. find/talk to someone I haven't seen in a long time
23. get better at playing scrabble 
24. grow herbs
25. go sailing and not get sea sick

If anyone would like to join or help me please feel free!

New Adventures

Being single in the city I have to try new things in order to meet new people/potential dates/networking. I need to have something to talk about Monday at work!  This past weekend I did this thing called Mac and Cheese Minglers.   The talented host name is Saya and she used to host dinner parties for singles and now she just does parties.  She puts together a great mix of people all who don't know each other in her spacious loft which used to be a toy factory. She assigns snacks/drinks to each person to bring.  I made basil dip.   The evening started with the game where you get a celebrity/famous person posted on your back and you have to guess who you are based on asking others yes or no questions.
Then she separated us into three groups and first we had to introduce ourselves to the whole group, where we grew up, where we went to college and what we do for living.  Then each group got a list of 7 questions and we picked the person who gave the best answer to tell to the whole group after our individual groups finished.  Was a great way to learn about people and hear some really great stories.  Once that is over people are free to "mingle".  Was a lot of fun getting to know new people.   One guy met Michael Jackson when he was a kid, another woman is planning a trip around former Soviet Union states for a year, one did a blacksmith class for several months in the Appalachians, one met the president when she was working in Afghanistan.  Everyone had their own unique story and have lived pretty amazing lives.  I will definitely do it again. 


I live near an area of the city called Ravenswood Manor (Ex Govenor Blagojevich not sure if he still lives there-if those walls could talk). 
Area has some really nice old bungalows and beautiful gardens and is right along the Chicago river. On Sunday the neighborhood holds one of the oldest and largest garage sales in the city.  My friend Chris ended up with an amazing 50's style lamp and we both found some old vintage post cards.  Was a great way to spend a beautiful Sunday morning walking and looking through all the junk and some treasures.

Skyward

I have always been intrigued by the weather. I consider myself a weather nerd.  When I saw the Wizard of Oz I was scared and fascinated at the same time with tornadoes.  I want to go storm chasing someday so I can see one... yes I know a bit strange! I also take a lot of photos of clouds and sunrises/sunsets.  I'm superstitious about the full moon and that it follows me, brings me luck and makes some a little crazy.  When I go on a trips to Michigan or camping seeing the galaxy and all the stars is one of those things that takes my breathe away. Something about the power of the sky I always seem to want to look at it, wonder about it and think who might be up there watching over me.  I make wishes when I see a falling star which has happened a few times. 

View from my office window.  I really appreciate my window and daydream staring at the sky.

Plane rides are the best places to view the sky.  So peaceful.

Chicago has some amazing sky just after or before a storm.










Last trip to Australia 2010.  Grace my niece who lives there shares my passion of clouds.

Storm clouds are some of my favorite kind of clouds.

This blog is dedicated to moms. Those who are are in my life and those who have passed on and those yet to be moms.  May your wisdom and love always shine down upon us.

Music is My Passion

I've always been very passionate about music and it gets me through some difficult times.  It lifts me up and makes me smile.  It puts me in the mood when I clean the house or drive around in my car doing errands singing and playing it really loud. It enables me to have a really good cry too.  Music reminds you of times in your life good or bad but it strikes memories that make you feel something.  Its funny I got some post on facebook recently from some high school friends who remember me driving them around in the big station wagon I drove listening to 8 tracks of REO or ELO.  Was nice that they remembered that after all these years. 

The first time I DJ at college radio station KJHK I was so scared I would mess up but once I found all this music I could play I loved it. There is no better feeling of cuing up a record and taking requests knowing you were making people happy who were listening.  When I went to some of my first shows in college I was blown away about how much talent these bands had and skipped studying for a test to see the Pixies when their first album came out.

When I worked at the music store when I first moved to Chicago I used to drag my friend John to a lot of shows because I would get free tickets.  We saw a lot of great shows together.  I loved working at the record store  getting exposed first hand to new music and getting lots of free promos didn't hurt either.

I remember my nieces in Australia when we saw an outdoor show of a band they loved getting them up close to the front and seeing how exciting it was for them to see a band so close was really fun for me to get to share that memory with them.  I got to go to a Red Rocks in Denver a few years ago with my friend Anna. I always dreamed of going there since I saw the U2 live in Red Rocks video on MTV in the 80's.  It was a magical night of seeing the bands The Black Keys and My Morning Jacket up in the mountains overlooking Denver on a clear crisp full moon evening. 

I still love discovering new music and going to live shows.  I have so many memories of my life and the music I was listening to at the time.  A first kiss, a new boyfriend, a breakup,  a road trip, a festival of music, a wedding, a funeral, a small dinner party, a birthday, a dance or a great party.  I hope music can continue to inspire and make memories of my life and I hope I can continue to share those memories with the people  I love. I recently saw a show where it was so good it gave me goosebumps.  I love when that happens.  It makes me feel lucky to be alive!